In 1985, the Hospital established
the Palliative Care Institute to help educate health care professionals about
how to provide the best end-of-life care to patients. Since then, it has welcomed thousands of
physicians, nurses, social workers and other health care professionals from
dozens of countries for visits ranging from a few days to six months.

In 2005, the NIH’s National Cancer
Institute designated Calvary “an international leader in palliative care” and
invited us to participate in the Middle East Cancer Consortium (MECC). Comprised of the national ministries of
health from Egypt, Turkey, Israel, Cyprus, Jordan, and the Palestinian
Authority, MECC members have visited Calvary regularly over the past
decade.

Annual visitors to the PCI include
health care professionals from coast-to-coast as well as 800 students from
every medical school in the greater New York area. The students, who come here for visits
ranging from one day to semester-long weekly visits, include EMT (emergency
medical technician) trainees from the New York Fire Department.